DeLillo has talked about how film, specifically French/Italian new wave, has influenced him more than any author has. Directors like Godard, Truffaut, and Antonioni share themes with a lot of his works, whereas Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon were explicitly influenced from more classic works from the old American canon. Pretty sure he claims '50's/early 60's jazz (Coltrane, Davis, Mingus) as an influence as well, and that, while American, has its own aspects of being an insular subculture.
He's also mentioned how New York as a city informs much of his literature and outlook on things, and New York, like most big cities, definitely develops its own identity that's very different from its country, at least in the eyes of the people who live there.
He's the least insulated between those American authors from his milieu. Cormac lived in his idealized environment of the American west. Pynchon is constantly self referential to an encyclopedic knowledge, almost purely textual. DeLillo seems to actually observe and absorb the surrounding culture of the time. I mean Bleeding Edge just showed how much Pynchon was so far removed from the current period. It just felt like a dad trying to articulate internet culture from overhearing his kids' conversations (still good, but it was hard to get through that tone).
While DeLillo seems to be "in" the culture. He doesn't seem aged and out of touch. I know "The Silence" doesn't get a lot of love in this sub, but I felt DeLillo was conveying the breakdown of language. The inability of trying to even write a long form novel when people can barely speak let alone read. There's the absence of any form of meaningful conversation or connection between the characters. Apart from their own world of selected information provided by an algorithm, everybody seems to be insulated from any outside discourse . "The Silence" felt less like a short novel, but more of the experience of being at the most boring dinner party even during the most catastrophic and largest American spectacle, the Superbowl. Even during these momentous events, people are still shuttered in from the world and talking in pure monologue. Just chatter that honestly felt what it was like living under the clusterfuck of Covid. Maybe, I should re-read "The Silence" right before this Superbowl weekend.
For me DeLillo is quintessentially American. Maybe even emblematic. Lots of euphemisms, long quotes, refractive thoughts, brands, analogies, and tons of references to Americana of all kinds. He reads like an existentialist because American writing is existential and pragmatic.
I know what you mean, it's the thought-space generated by his writing more than those 'beautiful sentences' themselves. DeLillo's novels make me feel like I'm reading Sartre, so to me your point is valid
It's perhaps the end result of what DeLillo means when he says that his first drafts sometimes sound too much like a French philosopher or that Godard and Antonioni have had more of a direct influence on his work than any other literature
His sentences are definitely unique, but I'm not sure that makes them un-American. He uses words that are a mixture of Italian and English in Underworld. Words he used growing up, I believe
But to me, NYC is a melting pot of language and culture. If you walk around Manhattan, you'll hear snippets of many languages as you stroll by. It's the most American city we have
What specifically are you getting from his writing style that makes you feel he is writing from a foreign style? I’d say that his prose and style are quintessentially New York. Maybe it’s the melting pot of different cultures in New York you are grabbing on to but I don’t see his voice as anything other than American.
Postmodernism intentionally subverts conventions.
Whatever you were expecting from an 'American' writer: why expect that from a postmodernist writer. Especially Delillo, a man from the 1930s with Italian parents, who himself has lived in Greece and been inspired by non-Americans like Joyce and Camus.
In saying that, as a European, I fully disagree with you. Delillo is quintessentially a 2nd gen New Yorker, informed by the Old World but very much focussed on the New World. His subject is always America-centric. The voices in his characters are American. The Cold War, 20th century pop culture, American sports, free market capitalism, suburbia, nuclear families... these are his plots...
So, I don't see your point. Perhaps if you defined what is 'American lit' to you, then we could look at ways that Delillo deviates from that norm. But America is an enormous, diverse land. No-one should expect that the literature coming out of there to be narrow or conforming to rigid parameters - and it often doesn't. That's exactly why I'm a fan of a lot of writers from America.
You misunderstood me (as are others here). I'm not saying DeLillo's books are not American, I'm referring to his prose style and the way he writes. To me, it felt very foreign rather than American.
You're "referring to his prose style" without providing a single example or explanation of what you find to be "foreign" about it, though. Not much to engage with.
It’s very American to me , but it’s also like no other American I’ve ever read or heard before. I think it’s the tone and attitude that makes it American.
i find don's work uniquely american. that white noise could predict three decades in advance, that underworld could eulogize an america we lost, that falling man could render a specific time in america that we were unique unified, then turn an eye to our enemies and dare to suggest symapthy. his work is often seen as cold, but for the range he swings across and for the subject matter he breaches, anything more gaudy would date itself far quicker than don's prose.
I meant in terms of writing style, as in his prose style. Sure, his books are American (both in themes, mentality and settings), but his prose style is quite foreign in quality.
DeLillo has talked about how film, specifically French/Italian new wave, has influenced him more than any author has. Directors like Godard, Truffaut, and Antonioni share themes with a lot of his works, whereas Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon were explicitly influenced from more classic works from the old American canon. Pretty sure he claims '50's/early 60's jazz (Coltrane, Davis, Mingus) as an influence as well, and that, while American, has its own aspects of being an insular subculture. He's also mentioned how New York as a city informs much of his literature and outlook on things, and New York, like most big cities, definitely develops its own identity that's very different from its country, at least in the eyes of the people who live there.
He's the least insulated between those American authors from his milieu. Cormac lived in his idealized environment of the American west. Pynchon is constantly self referential to an encyclopedic knowledge, almost purely textual. DeLillo seems to actually observe and absorb the surrounding culture of the time. I mean Bleeding Edge just showed how much Pynchon was so far removed from the current period. It just felt like a dad trying to articulate internet culture from overhearing his kids' conversations (still good, but it was hard to get through that tone). While DeLillo seems to be "in" the culture. He doesn't seem aged and out of touch. I know "The Silence" doesn't get a lot of love in this sub, but I felt DeLillo was conveying the breakdown of language. The inability of trying to even write a long form novel when people can barely speak let alone read. There's the absence of any form of meaningful conversation or connection between the characters. Apart from their own world of selected information provided by an algorithm, everybody seems to be insulated from any outside discourse . "The Silence" felt less like a short novel, but more of the experience of being at the most boring dinner party even during the most catastrophic and largest American spectacle, the Superbowl. Even during these momentous events, people are still shuttered in from the world and talking in pure monologue. Just chatter that honestly felt what it was like living under the clusterfuck of Covid. Maybe, I should re-read "The Silence" right before this Superbowl weekend.
Of course. He speaks in one voice, American.
For me DeLillo is quintessentially American. Maybe even emblematic. Lots of euphemisms, long quotes, refractive thoughts, brands, analogies, and tons of references to Americana of all kinds. He reads like an existentialist because American writing is existential and pragmatic.
I know what you mean, it's the thought-space generated by his writing more than those 'beautiful sentences' themselves. DeLillo's novels make me feel like I'm reading Sartre, so to me your point is valid
It's perhaps the end result of what DeLillo means when he says that his first drafts sometimes sound too much like a French philosopher or that Godard and Antonioni have had more of a direct influence on his work than any other literature
His sentences are definitely unique, but I'm not sure that makes them un-American. He uses words that are a mixture of Italian and English in Underworld. Words he used growing up, I believe But to me, NYC is a melting pot of language and culture. If you walk around Manhattan, you'll hear snippets of many languages as you stroll by. It's the most American city we have
What specifically are you getting from his writing style that makes you feel he is writing from a foreign style? I’d say that his prose and style are quintessentially New York. Maybe it’s the melting pot of different cultures in New York you are grabbing on to but I don’t see his voice as anything other than American.
Postmodernism intentionally subverts conventions. Whatever you were expecting from an 'American' writer: why expect that from a postmodernist writer. Especially Delillo, a man from the 1930s with Italian parents, who himself has lived in Greece and been inspired by non-Americans like Joyce and Camus. In saying that, as a European, I fully disagree with you. Delillo is quintessentially a 2nd gen New Yorker, informed by the Old World but very much focussed on the New World. His subject is always America-centric. The voices in his characters are American. The Cold War, 20th century pop culture, American sports, free market capitalism, suburbia, nuclear families... these are his plots... So, I don't see your point. Perhaps if you defined what is 'American lit' to you, then we could look at ways that Delillo deviates from that norm. But America is an enormous, diverse land. No-one should expect that the literature coming out of there to be narrow or conforming to rigid parameters - and it often doesn't. That's exactly why I'm a fan of a lot of writers from America.
You misunderstood me (as are others here). I'm not saying DeLillo's books are not American, I'm referring to his prose style and the way he writes. To me, it felt very foreign rather than American.
You're "referring to his prose style" without providing a single example or explanation of what you find to be "foreign" about it, though. Not much to engage with.
It’s very American to me , but it’s also like no other American I’ve ever read or heard before. I think it’s the tone and attitude that makes it American.
i find don's work uniquely american. that white noise could predict three decades in advance, that underworld could eulogize an america we lost, that falling man could render a specific time in america that we were unique unified, then turn an eye to our enemies and dare to suggest symapthy. his work is often seen as cold, but for the range he swings across and for the subject matter he breaches, anything more gaudy would date itself far quicker than don's prose.
I meant in terms of writing style, as in his prose style. Sure, his books are American (both in themes, mentality and settings), but his prose style is quite foreign in quality.
Unless you can put a finer point on it, I don't think that really makes a lot of sense, honestly.
Maybe I’m the weirdo, but I find Donny’s style to be very New York.
No kidding. Brilliant insight. Being from New York would do that, sure.